Hi, I'm Ev. I'm training to become a horsewoman. These are my adventures and misadventures. I'm green as hell, but so far, so good. I'm now learning from Bo (and sometimes his wife DeDe) at D&D Ranch in Pope Valley. I am extremely lucky to have this opportunity, I feel quite blessed, and I feel that they, and horses, have really turned my life around.
Solomon is my baby- a big old flea bitten grey Appendix gelding who is very kind and way too smart! I love him so very much. He is a rescue and was meant to be co-owned rehabbed, and maybe rehomed to a good home. He turned out to be over 25 years old with injuries that ultimately do not make him riding sound, so he is retired.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Technical Difficulties!

Hi folks,
I have a nasty virus, but I DO have new Solly pics and videos! I will get them to you as soon as I can, okay?

Meanwhile, while I contemplate installing Windows 7, here's a picture of Solly and I to tide you over. Happy holidays!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

AAAA SHEATH TICKS!

Hey folks!

I was able to get up to see Solly today.

The first horse I saw was Charley Horse. I wonder what kind of pony blood he has in him? I don't think he's a pure quarterhorse, hah. He sure is cute though!



The other three horses were hanging out in the pen that A__ and J___ are building. I advised them to feed the horses in that pen once in a while so they would associate it with good things. This way, if a horse needs to be put in it to be separated from the herd, he won't be quite as stressed. It's working well, since it seems that they go hang out there often now.

Solomon, upon seeing me, broke off from the group to come say hi! YAY, he's interested in mom again!



Yeah, the next three photos are very similar. But I love looking at his face, so you get to look at it too.



A___ and J___ have been doing a great job. They listen to my input and they have been feeding and graining Solly well- that, combined with the 90 acres of grass, has caused him to gain about 20 pounds! Some of it, at least, is muscle. He has inner thigh muscles now that I've never seen on him before, haha! I'm just going to go ahead and say that it's because he's been climbing up and down hills and running around, and not say anything about Maggie the Mare.

They've also removed a lot of Evil Pods From Hell, and fed Sol a lot of apples and carrots. <3



Solomon did have a problem today,however. As it turns out, it's tick season, and since there are some woods and tall plants on the 90 acres, the horses have been getting ticks. Solomon stood stock still for a good 40 minutes while I carefully searched his body for ticks. I removed about 13 or 14 of the evil things from him, and 4 of those were on his SHEATH! GAAAAAH! I don't know if I got all his ticks, and I'm hoping I didn't bring any home. He had little dark ones and huge tan ones. Ugh ugh ugh.

I (and my tick-removal service) was more important than Maggie the Mare today, even. He let her wander off, because MOM was here, and she was pulling those horrible itchy painful THINGS off of him!

He did still pull a face or two at Breaker. GRUMPERS!



That's about all that happened today. Solomon followed me around like a love, affectionately resting his nose oh-so-gently on my cheek and blowing into my hair. While I was pulling out ticks, he stood over me, keeping an eye on things protectively. He's back to being a good, sweet, careful boy. I think he's really settled in now.

On the drive home, I finally stopped and shot some photos of the cormorants at Lake Hennessey. They've been there since I started driving up to Pope Valley, and I've always thought "oh cool," but I hadn't stopped to shoot them until today.

Enjoy!